Minister meets students of Kottapuram school who fought for presenting own inventions at the science fair

Kondotty: The working model and still model competitions would be held as live competitions at the Kerala State School Sasthrolsavam (science fair) from this year onwards. Meanwhile, the smart students of Kottappuram Government Higher Secondary School are proud that their efforts have finally paid off.

The models that are exhibited at the fair were built at schools and then brought to the venue until now. However, many schools buy ‘inventions’ from outside agencies by spending hefty sums. The students of Kottappuram school have been protesting against this evaluation method since 2022. 

NSS program officer A Raju Narayanan who is also a teacher at the school says that it was former students Sumina who is a BA Economics student at the Delhi University, Hisna Riya who studies BA Economics at Chalakkudy Government College and Nandana, a BA Economics student at Thiruvananthapuram University College who brought this matter to the government’s attention.

These students reacted strongly against the current method of evaluation at the district science fairs held at Manjeri in 2022 and at Alathur in 2023. They constantly sent complaints to the Chief Minister, education minister as well as higher officials of the department. 

A group of students even met the general education minister when Nava Kerala Sadas was held at Malappuram. Now, the students of Kondotty school are happy and relieved that their demands have been met with a positive response. 

The competitions would be held live from this year onwards. According to the latest guideline, the students should build the models themselves at the school within three hours. Meanwhile, M Vinayakumar, principal of Kottappuram school said that the students’ request to conduct the competitions in a way that helps them exhibit their scientific temper and aptitude has been approved by the authorities.